Bengaluru: Rs 4.53 crore property tax for a 600 sqft house

BENGALURU: Aslam Pasha, who owns a 600sqft house in Kaveri Nagar of Karisandra ward in south Bengaluru, has a property tax challan waiting for him at the BBMP revenue office, with the amount running into crores.

Aslam, who is yet to see the challan, can barely comprehend why he has to pay Rs 4,53,32,161 for his ground plus-one-floor house. He visited the revenue office at Channammanakere Acchukattu, near Yediyur, but was sent away. “I went to the BBMP office to pay tax, but was told there was a problem and asked to come back on Monday . I am yet to see the challan,“ he told TOI.

This is due to a technical glitch, which is yet to be resolved by the BBMP. Property owners are trying to pay their tax before May 31 to avail of the 5% rebate, but such glitches in the software are holding up payment. In another case, B M Srini vasa Murthy , 37, a resident of Chikkakallasandra in south Bengaluru, was similarly shocked to see a challan quoting his property tax at Rs 1.59 crore. He had paid Rs 6,235 a year ago for his ground-plustwo-floors property.

“I was stunned to see the challan,“ said Murthy . BBMP officers at Katriguppe didn't resolve the issue immediately and asked Murthy to go to the office at Channammanakere Acchukattu and file a complaint explaining the issue. “I collected the challan on May 22, and submitted a letter on May 24,“ said Srinivasa. He is yet to pay his tax.

These are just a few property owners who are put to inconvenience due to technical errors in the BBMP's Self-Assessment Scheme for property tax collection.

N R Ramesh, former corporator of Yediyur, said errors have crept in due to technical glitches. “After I checked with BBMP officials in Yediyur ward office, we realized there are many citizens whose property tax challans have erroneous calculations. In Aslam's case, the tax is more than Rs 4 crore. BBMP has to sort it out,“ said Ramesh. sort it out,“ said Ramesh.

HUMAN ERROR?

M Venkatachalapathy, joint commissioner, revenue, BBMP, admitted it was a mistake and would be rectified. “In Aslam Pasha's case, by mistake, the number of towers has been entered as 2,000 and in Srinivasa Murthy's case, the towers are wrongly mentioned as 450. We will rectify it,“ he said.